J4A1 Ford Escort definitions help

Discuss Ford tuning topics here. Request definitions, discuss parameters, etc.

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bill4123
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J4A1 Ford Escort definitions help

Post by bill4123 »

Hi all,

I am pretty new to the whole Ford ECU chipping so here's my story.

I have everything I need to start tuning my Escort except the definitions. I will supply the .bin file that I have extracted along with any information I can find regarding my car to anybody who thinks that they can help me.

J4A1 ECU and the binaries have been extracted
4 cylinder
15lb. injectors
MAF sensor
SEFI
EDIS-4

If worse comes to worse I will try and learn the structure and edit everything in a hex editor but I am a LONG way away from doing that.

I have a Moates.net Burn1, F3 chip adaptor, F2A and F2E, an LM-1 with RPM adaptor, and my laptop equipped with TunerPro and Paul Booth's EEC Editor. Paul said he was going to help me with the definitions but I haven't heard back from him in almost a month.

If nobody thinks that they can decode my .bin can someone please point me in a direction that will allow me to learn to do it myself?

Thank you all for reading,
Bill
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dex
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Post by dex »

Post the bin up on http://www.moates.net/fileman/index.php?dir=1)%20Stock%20Binaries/Ford%20Binaries (for some reason the whole link isn't being underlined) and hopefully someone might be able to recognise parts of the code. If Paul said he would look at it I'm sure he will but your definition will be one of many he'll have to do.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

'will do. Thanks for steering me in the right direction.
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dex
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Post by dex »

It's not one that I readily recognise but the calibration data starts at 0xC000 and the MAF_Transfer_Table starts at 0xC046.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

Where (book, website, etc.) is a good place for me to start looking so that I can learn how to recognize the same stuff that you just did?
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dex
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Post by dex »

There's some good eec-iv stuff here http://www.austincc.edu/cloud/tc_eec.htm especially the http://www.austincc.edu/cloud/efi/eectch98.pdf . The Mike Wesley articles here http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/ give very good insight into the eec too. The Yahoo groups for EECTuner and tweecer also are a very source of information.
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Post by dex »

Think I found the following;
Base Spark Table 0xCEEA
Altitude Spark Table 0xCF4D
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

Thank you all so much for helping me through this. I really appreciate it. I am passing this info along to all the people on www.feoa.net who were too chicken to dive into this without knowing where they were going :) .
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I don't know if it changes anything but my injector size is supposed to be 14#.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I've been busy with school but now that I'm on Thanksgiving break I have decided to get back into this. I don't know if I'm reading my .bin wrong but I don't see anything past 0xBCCC, all I am seeing is $FF from there through 0xDFFF.
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dex
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Post by dex »

My version of your bin has the first 0x2000 padded with null data so I get then end of the bin full of 0xFF from 0xDCCC to 0xFFFF. It's not uncommon for the bin files to have areas of 0xFF as fill.
dcorwin822
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Post by dcorwin822 »

i think you all may have been looking at the wrong bin file. its the J4A1 bin. when i look at those locations it doesnt make any sense. its all null data or data thats not right.
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Post by dex »

I've definitely been looking at the right bin file :D To get the memory addresses I have been referring to to you need to pad out the first 8192 bytes of the 56k bin file with null data to create a 64k bin file. I do it this way so that you are dealing with the addresses as the eec has them (eec rom starts at 0x2000).
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Post by dex »

ECT/ACT Transfer Table 0xC27A
Fuel OL Stabilised Table 0xC730
Fuel Startup Table 0xC780
Fuel Base Table 0xC7D0
Ignition Type 0xCB84
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Post by dcorwin822 »

ahh and how do you add the padding in?

<- noob
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Post by dcorwin822 »

never mind i added the padding in now what do we do with those numbers you gave us?
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Post by dcorwin822 »

i can see they point to some info but what do we do with it? it makes no sence to me atleast
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dex
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Post by dex »

dcorwin822, email sent to you with an xdf containing the items identified.

bill4123, a correction to the 'holds no water' comment on foea.net is warranted I think :D (jest)
dcorwin822
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Post by dcorwin822 »

lols...


now does your computer stall when i try say looking at the base fuel table and such in a graphical representation? mine does.. maby its the way i padded my bin file? thats the onlything i can think of lol
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Post by dcorwin822 »

lol never mind... when the say row lables have all the same number... DANG! goes bad.. honestly i should start reading what you write more carefully :-P
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Post by dex »

I'll see if I can find the row and colum scaling for the tables, no promises though.........
dcorwin822
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Post by dcorwin822 »

anything we can do to help? i feel like that annoying kid that everyone hates asking you to look all this stuff up for us :-\ but unfortionatly i dont have the burner yet so i cant try new values in our cars..
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

credit given where credit is due (feoa) :wink:

I didn't know/understand the whole padding the bin thing. I understand it now. Thanks for sticking with us.
dcorwin822
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Post by dcorwin822 »

find anything else good? anything we can help with?
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dex
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Post by dex »

dcorwin822 wrote:find anything else good?
Nope :D TBH, I haven't been looking, I just threw together what I could easily find to get you started. Is there something in particular you were looking for?
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Post by dcorwin822 »

everything lol but mostly what were looking for is how you found what you have so far and how can we find what else is avalible to us through the stock ecu. alot of us would like to say disable egr or when the tranny shifts and such. asking you to figure it all out would be stupid but would asking you to teach us how to find it be stupid?
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dex
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Post by dex »

I started off by reading this http://www.fordfans.cz/download/manual/eectch98.pdf and if it keeps you interested then I found looking at (and trying to understand) a disassembly of an A9L ecu from a Mustang was next (it's possibly the most understood eec ecu). This disassembly, and a couple of others, can be found at http://www.austin.cc.tx.us/cloud/efi/list.zip

The disassemblies from the binary files (extracted fom the ecu's), were done using Bill Lawrence's disassembler, see http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/EEC ... r%20tools/ for it, along with other tools people use. There's a lot a hard work gone into those disassemblies (by people with more smarts than me) and quite a bit of guesswork. If you rumage around the various files on the Yahoo groups you will find some interesting stuff.

Quite a few binaries are here http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/EEC ... 0Binaries/ and http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/twe ... 0Binaries/ (you'll need to join the groups) or http://www.moates.net/fileman/index.php?dir=1)%20Stock%20Binaries/Ford%20Binaries

I'll see if I can find the egr switch but no guarantees. I'm not familiar with autobox ecu code so there's less chance of finding anything useful, I'll have another rummage when I've got a bit of spare time.

One caveat over any xdf information is that it's very much guesswork based upon assumptions made and if you start using DIY tuning then it's always at your risk. The key is not to make too many changes at once and always check to see that you are getting the desired result, if not then the assumption was probably wrong and you need to revert to the stock setting. But this is half the fun huh? :D
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dex
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Post by dex »

dcorwin822, email sent to you regarding the egr
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I got my car running on the stock profile burned to the chip now. Are you able to find anything in the .bin regarding WOT?
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Post by dex »

In later MAF equipped eec-iv's the WOT calibration data is fairly limited, e.g. things like aircon cut out duration, thermactor upstream air time and TPS WOT threshold. There's probably a WOT_FUEL_MULTIPLIER table too but I expect that all the output values will be set to 1.0 as this is the norm from what I've seen in other late eec-iv's.

I'm guessing that you are interested in the spark and fuel tables, these all run off load so WOT doesn't really play any part of any adjustments you are likely to make.

BTW, have you confirmed if the EGR switch is correct?
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

It's been snowing so all I have done is stick the chip in. Once it clears up a bit I'm hooking up my AutoXray to see what the computer tells me about the EGR. I'm also going to double check the tables against the real time data the AutoXray tells me to verify that the tables you found are in fact what the labels say.

Yeah I am only interested in the fuel and spark for WOT. I am basically just using the chip to help me run the turbo I'm sticking on there. I don't need anything too in depth just the super important stuff.
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Post by bill4123 »

I checked a couple days ago to see if the EGR worked. I unchecked the "set" box in TunerPro and ran that profile.

My realtime data showed no EGR vacuum regulation although the EGR sensor still showed voltage. I unplugged the sensor and ran a KOER test and did not find an error code related to the EGR system.

I'm pretty sure the EGR feature in the definition you created is correct.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

To clarify my post from Sunday the 21st:

I will be increasing my injector size and probably sticking on a bigger MAF depending on whether or not I max out the one I have. I need the chip to allow me to correct the fuel for the larger injectors in both WOT and cruise. I also need the spark tables for WOT and cruise. The MAF transfer function would be pretty good to have if I up the MAF. Basically the only pieces missing are the WOT bits.
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Post by dex »

There are no separate WOT spark and fuel tables, when you are at WOT you are using the areas of high load in the tables.
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Post by bill4123 »

Oh ok. That makes things much easier. Thanks so much for clarifying. For some reason I thought there were different tables for OL and CL.

Assuming I put the correct data in the tables you found for me, I should have no problem tuning for the turbo?

Thank you so much for helping me.
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Post by dex »

The fuel tables aren't used in CL, the eec strives to get an AF ratio of 14.64 in CL. The spark tables are common to both OL and CL.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I have my sea level timing set at 22.50* or more from 3200 and up depending on load. I am however having a great deal of difficulty hitting that mark when I push the pedal to the floor. I seem to be retarded around 5* from what my see level table is set to.

My ACT voltage is usually between 2.9 and 3.1 and my coolant temp varies from 160*F-210*F. Most of the time I am around 195*F-205*F.

I am using an Auto-Xray 6000 to view in real time the values given.

Any idea what is causing me to not hit my mark on full throttle conditions but otherwise in cruise be hitting the timing map very accurately? I read about a few things in the A9L explaination that sounded like likely suspects but I wanted your input before drawing any conclusions.

Also, is there a way I can change the injector size in the tuning? Stock is 14.8# and that is what I am running.

Anything on transaxle control?

Thank you so much! The more I play around with this the more I am understanding what is contained in the links you gave me. People at FEOA are starting to dig into what you have given us and are getting very excited.
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Post by dex »

AT WOT the cylinder filling is better than PT so I suspect that the 'Spark Borderline Table' is pulling timing to avoid pinging (the eec always uses the lowest spark value from the various different table lookups it does).

When tuning spark, I set both the 'Spark Altitude Table' and 'Spark Sea Level Table' entries to contain only 55 degrees to eliminate them from the final spark calculation the eec does. This then lets you concentrate on just the 'Spark Borderline Table' for your tuning. There are some other spark tables that the eec can use for the final spark value too but most people seem to ignore them.

You can change the injector size in the tune, it's just a matter of finding it (I haven't). The same goes for the gearbox control.

BTW, if you pull any other bins post them up on the Moates site and I'll do a quick check to see if the J4A1 xdf can be used on them too.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

Ah I do recall reading about what you said regarding the borderline and altitude tables on a Mustang forum except the way they said it made it seem unimportant so I sort of passed it aside and forgot about it. I will make the changes tonight and give them a try tomarrow on my way to work.

Someone else on FEOA said that he opened up another Escort binary and he thinks your definition works. As it is just now starting to warm up I have not had the chance to go to the jy yet to snatch a bunch of binaries. Now that it is becoming warm again I should have them soon.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I maxed out the Borderline and Altitude tables and it did the trick. I am hitting much closer to target now; within 1 or 2 degrees. I am letting that slide because a) it is plus or minus one degree rather than always minus 5-6 degrees b) I don't know all of the other things that could be acting against my table c) I am only guessing my load.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

I have been using my wideband against the OL Stabilized table and my AutoXray against my Sea Level Spark table. I have been noticing that when I am driving at about 60mph and above my spark jumps 10 degrees. My spark should be around 30* but it shows up at 40* when everything is stable. I also see the fuel table pointing at stoich but I am reading a rock-steady 17.0-18.0.

I don't know what is causing what but I also noticed at the super lean/high advance conditions my "EGR Vacuum Regl" is 0.00% and the EGR Feedback Sensor is 3.6V.

On a different note, what does the up/down axis on the fuel startup table represent? It is not labled in my definition and I don't think it's a oxygen sensor reading. I see the cranking time in seconds and what I am guessing is coolant temp in degrees C.
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Post by dex »

The Y axis (row) of the 'Fuel Startup Table' (aka FN1306) table is seconds (since start).

If you have the 'Table Editor' window open (press F9) whilst viewing a table it shows the axis labels.
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Post by bill4123 »

My lean condition was caused by my computer switching from CL to OL. I still don't understand the spark but from now on I will try and keep that stuff to the EECTuner yahoo group. For here I am giving an update on what I have done.

I have confirmed that the fuel tables, spark tables, and EGR present are all correct in the definition file. I have been able to successfully open my bin, a bin from a 5 speed escort, and a bin from special bin designed to control a race version of this engine. I plan to attack my lean condition at low load OL by looking at my MAF transfer table. In doing so I plan to both fix my lean condition and confirm the functionality of the MAF table in the definition.
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Post by dex »

Can you post the 5 speed and race bins on the Moates download site? Thanks.
bill4123
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Post by bill4123 »

Whoa I don't remember getting notified of your last post. After posting here I'm going to the Moates site to see if I posted that stuff for you. If I didn't then I will. Anyways...

I am comparing the bins of a Spec Racer Ford and a '95 Escort 5 speed. I am getting a little confused in the timing tables. I know I am looking at spark tables. However, I am seeing some negative signs on otherwise logical timing values. What do these negative signs mean?

I see them in some of the cells across most of the RPM range and on the low load conditions (between 15% and 45%).

Thanks,
Bill
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Post by dex »

It looks like it could be a corrupted binary.
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Post by Ian12 »

REVIVING THE DEAD!


So I have been actively searching about the net, and I'm on feoa, about a definition for 91-95 Escort. I stumbled across this same topic on feoa and wanted in on it. I was originally going to put a microsquirt in the car, but really would like to just tune up the factory ecu.

Currently the car has a 2.0 SPI swapped into it and it runs okay enough to drive but things don't cooperate very well. I have been in contact with moates about some help and they suggested possibly getting a supported ecu and tune it from there. I was afraid the pinout from another ecu would be off, so I wanted to see if there was still some info with this generation Escort. So are there any files still floating out there that work or close to working? All the links I have seen are dead.
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dex
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Post by dex »

The attitude of some of the users and moderators on FEOA has killed off any interest I have in further working on the Escort ecu's so I am not able to help.
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Post by Ian12 »

I noticed that in the sticky. It was ridiculous and I didn't get to see the whole thing since much was deleted. I was hoping one of the links still worked so I could see what had been done.

But I may still give it a go if I can pull the code apart. Few things though, is it possible to fully remap the fuel and ignition tables if say you turbocharged the engine? And once you find the right part in the bin and add it to the correct subject in the GUI, will that be able to properly decipher the code? By that I mean, if you find the ignition map and add it to whatever the table is called in tunerpro, will tunerpro properly understand the code so it can be read and modified?

I'm on the fence about this. If there was some help or benefit to more, then I'm more into it. But I don't want the same thing to happen from the group. Guess some people don't appreciate what all goes into these sort of things
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dex
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Post by dex »

If you have a comprehensive definition (i.e. one that is well developed with regard to the number of parameters exposed) then you can easily tune for modifications such as turbocharging.

Creating a definition involves more than finding the address of a parameter, you also need to define its characteristics. See the "Editing Bin Definitions" section of the TunerPro help file for details on how this is done.
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